Da morgenen bød på en del byger brugte vi dagens tidlige timer på forskellige indendørsopgaver. Kl. 11 troppede to modige franskmænd op til denne uges LIFE-tur i det naturgenoprettede område vest for fuglestationen. Selvom turen blev en noget våd og dyrefattig affære kunne Martin og jeg servere friskplukkede mosebølle-bær og tranebær til de to deltagere. Tilbage ved fuglestationen viste vi dem de døde fugle i fryseren og vores ringmærkningslaboratorium, inden at de tilfredse drog videre mod Grenens spids.

Da vores tur var færdig tog Simon imod en gruppe på 35 historieinteressede pensionister, som kom for at få en rundvisning og høre om fyrets historie.

Heidi og Christina brugte meget af dagen på at lave en fin film om stor præstekrave, som kan ses på vores facebookside. Om eftermiddagen lavede Heidi desuden en lækker cheesecake med en gelé lavet på lokal havtorn. Ikke dårligt!

På trods af et fortsat ret ustadigt vejr over middag, besluttede jeg at prøve lykken på Grenen. Det viste sig at være en god beslutning idet regnen havde skabt flere småsøer på stranden, som tiltrak mange måger, terner og vadefugle. Ved min ankomst var den første fugl jeg fik øje på en fin ungfugl af sorthovedet måge, som blev hængende i området resten af eftermiddagen. I løbet af fem timers observationer blev det også til 7 almindelige kjover, 11 storkjover og 10 vadefuglearter. Det føltes fedt for første gang siden min ankomst, at se så mange fugle på Grenen, og det gav en dejlig fornemmelse af at efteråret for alvor er ved at starte. Let the party begin!

Ungfugle af sorthovedet måge er i sandhed delikate på trods af deres ikke så markante farver.

Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou, Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen, Heidi Vibe Frederiksen

After our amazing barbeque the previous night and the constant rain our sleep was cosy and refreshing! Shortly after getting up I saw several rays of sunlight trying to make their way through the clouds. That was all the encouragement I needed for a swim in Kattegat. It was considerably windy however the water was cool but welcoming. Half an hour later and one too many gulps of saltwater I was ready for a shower and some lunch! Having said that I really can’t recommend a daily swim enough, given the opportunity of course. For me personally the list of benefits is endless: it’s an awesome way to start the day, when it’s not too wavy it is great exercise and the cold water seems to have a cleansing effect on my mind. Just gets your thoughts arranged in the right way somehow, hard to describe really. Furthermore, since I’ve turned this into a daily challenge – going in the sea on its own gives me a boost in productivity knowing I’m a day closed to completing my challenge of swimming every day while I’m in Denmark!

After lunch the time came for our much-anticipated moult & identification session with Simon. The prep work which Simon gave us over the last couple of days was to choose several species to focus on. We chose identification. Namely differentiating between the common Reed warbler (Rorsanger) (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) and the rarer Marsh warbler (Kaersanger) and Blyth’s warbler (Buskrørsanger) (Acrocephalus dumetorum). The main goal was to be able to correctly identify the species based on their subtle morphological differences while in the field. Luckily Simon pointed us in the correct direction enabling us to find the appropriate literature which greatly aided our skills. We also spoke about how important it is to have in mind that rarer species of warblers may be caught in the area.

We then moved on to the taxonomic mess known as Phylloscopus. Here the focus was on differentiating the three common species: Chiff chaff (Gransanger) (Phylloscopus collybita), Willow warbler (Løvsanger) (Phylloscopus trochilus) and the Wood warbler (Skovsanger) (Phylloscopus sibilatrix) from rarer species from the South and East such as Dusky warbler (Brun Løvsanger)  (Phylloscopus fuscatus) and Hume’s leaf warbler (Himalayasanger) (Phylloscopus humei).

When we had reached the point where now new information could be absorbed Christina and I started discussing dinner. Since we take turns cooking each day, it takes a bit of creativity and prep work in order to prepare a meal that would please both vegetarians and meat-eaters. Just as our food brainstorming session was starting to bear fruit Simon told us to be ready to meet him at his house in an hour in order to meet his friend Andreas on time. Much to our surprise we were scheduled to be eating at his house in two hours. A gentle details our dear friend Anders neglected to mention at any point the previous days.. thanks Andreas.

The evening was lovely and relaxing. Andreas was an outstanding host and we are forever grateful for inviting us to his home!

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou, Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen, Heidi Vibe Frederiksen, Sander HB Villumsen, Andreas Egelund Christensen.

Since I got here, the day has been getting shorter and shorter, therefore our alarm clocks go off an hour later than usual. Heidi and Martin were up at 4:00 o’ clock, preparing to open the nets, while me and Sander were going to meet them on the first round. Anders was going to observe migration on the hill of Worlds End with Rolf.

On our way to Grenen, just when the sun was rising, Sander and I, witnessed a mysterious misty morning with roe deers running around and slowly getting lost in the foggy scene. While walking on the sand dunes to get to the ringing site it was amazing to feel the huge difference in the temperature when we were higher, were it was warmer than lower were it was chillier on these small sand hills. Nature can be so surprising when moments like these appear and you can feel it around you.

Our ringing rounds had the same species as every other time, but in a larger variation. A little mix of everything, but this time we had a new species for autumn and this was the Yellowhammer. In the meantime, we got a message from Worlds End that a Red-backed shrike had been seen! Can’t wait to capture them in the nets, even if they are painful! :)

We had the pleasure also to learn something new out there, and if it wasn’t for our beloved moving encyclopedia a.k.a. Martin, we would probably never had observed it. An amazing natural phenomenon: A fogbow! Also known as a white rainbow. The fogbow's lack of colors is caused by the smaller water drops. Diffraction smears out colors that would be created by the larger water drops in a rainbow! As a result, the fog bow has only very weak colors, with a red outer edge and bluish inner edge.

After returning to the lighthouse, we did the usual indoor activities as well as going to the supermarket to get some stuff for our BBQ. We bought some fresh fish from the port which according to the meat eaters of the gang were very tasty! The evening was windy and cloudy, but we really enjoyed it!

Ringing (Sardinkrattet):

Reed warbler – Rørsanger - 1

Lesser whitethroat - Gærdesanger - 4

Blue tit - Blåmejse - 1

Marsh warbler - Kærsanger - 1

Icterine warbler - Gulbug - 1

Common whitethroat - Tornsanger - 8

Yellowhammer - Gulspurv - 1

Garden warbler - Havesanger - 1

Reed bunting - Rørspurv - 1

Chiffchaff - Gransanger - 2

Willow warbler - Løvsanger - 4

Total:    25

People: Simon S. Christiansen, Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou, Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen, Heidi Vibe Frederiksen, Sander HB Villumsen.

Dagen startede endnu en gang i Sardinkrattet på Grenen, hvor bl.a. to brogede fluesnappere og en håndfuld løvsangere vidnede om, at returtrækket er i fuld gang for flere arter. 

Om eftermiddagen besøgte 40 udvekslingsstuderende udstillingen og caféen. Martin var hurtig til at spørge om de var interesserede i en rundvisning, hvilket resulterede i at han sammen med Christina og Heidi underholdte gruppen de efterfølgende par timer. Fryseren blev åbnet for at vise vores samling af dødfundne fugle og senere blev gruppen instrueret i at fange insekter med sommerfuglenet. Resten af dagen gik med at få indtastet og tjekket data, så alt nu er up to date.

Ringmærkning (Sardinkrattet):

Rørsanger 1
Gærdesanger 1
Tornsanger 2
Havesanger 1
Munk 6
Løvsanger 6
Gransanger 1
Broget fluesnapper 2
Musvit 1
Lille gråsisken 3

Total: 24

Folk: Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou, Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen, Heidi Vibe Frederiksen, Sander HB Villumsen.

A standard 04:00 start for the station’s volunteers marked the start of our first August Wednesday. A division of labour was employed with Anders heading off to do migration counts from the observation site near the tip of Grenen while Christina and I headed straight for our ringing site. All the nets were open at 05:15 and at 05:45 we were joined by Simon for the first round. We only caught locally breeding birds with over 80% being common whitethroats (Tornsanger). In the meanwhile Anders saw mainly common species with the exception of four two-barred crossbills (Hvidvinget Korsnæb) and a parrot crossbill (Stor Korsnæb), hoping to catch them in our nets in the coming days if we’re lucky.

While we where in the field Rita came to the Observatory to help cleaning the 1'st floor. Thank you so much Rita! Back in the station Christina and I did the usual tasks such as data entry and updating the station’s social media. 

At 13:00 it was time for an open freezer session! Unfortunately, at that time it was raining heavily however I was joined by a young family who were very keen to learn about the life of birds. We also collected some of the drawings you visitors have made during their visit to the station and they are now available in the birders club :)

Ringing (Sardinkrattet):

Kærsanger - Marsh warbler – 1

Rørsanger – Reed warbler - 3

Tornsanger – Whitethroat - 18

Munk – Blackcap - 1

Gransanger – Chiff-chaff - 1

Løvsanger – Willow warbler - 2

Total: 26

Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou, Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen, Heidi Vibe Frederiksen, Niels Dentrup, Cathrine Finger og Rita Pate.

Due to wind and rain Simon and Anders got up at 06:00 to assess the situation. The weather was reasonably ok so the lights in our room were lit and several moments later Christina, Sander and I were up and having some breakfast. We split into two teams: Anders and Sander set off to observe & count migrating birds while Christina, Simon and I opened the nets at Grenen. During his time observing Anders recorded 120 golden plovers (hjejle) distributed in over 10 flocks as well as two two-barred crossbills (hvidvinget korsnæb) among the common species.

The whole ringing session was a fight against the weather with us trying to balance a plentiful catch with the safety of the birds. Overall, we caught 18 birds which was alright considering the weather. The session ended with a bang! The last bird caught and ringed was a young Jay (Skovskade). To me this is a bird that you can’t really appreciate until you hold it in the hand. Its physiology is absolutely stunning. Its strength and size can need to be experienced first-hand. Speaking of hands the bite and claw marks on our hands after this encounter were a great way for us to remember the session.

Upon returning to the station I had a quick bite while Anders was opening the nets in the garden in preparation for our free ringing tour funded by the LIFE project. Upon entering the courtyard, I saw 16 people eagerly listening to Andreas’ introduction! Always great to see people devoting time from their holiday to nature and learning! Since it was 13:00, hot and windy our expectations were met when the nets remained empty. As usual I grabbed all the swoop nets and distributed them between the visitors. Throughout the tour Anders and I took turns discussing various topics and showing the visitors different flora and fauna from the region. We managed to catch quite a few dragonflies, damselflies and butterflies. I also took the opportunity to mention the difference between grasshoppers and bush-crickets as well as how to determine the sex of Orthoptera. After the tour was over some of the participants joined us in the lab in exploring the various birds that we have in our freezer !!!

In the afternoon we used our last remaining energy to enter the data collected during the day in the online database and I had my daily swim in Kattegat. The water was lovely and it was my first day without a sting by a lion’s mane jellyfish.

Ringing (Sardinkrattet):

Skovskade - Jay - 1

Tornsanger - Whitethroat - 6

Munk - Blackcap - 2

Gransanger - Chiff-chaff - 2

Musvit - Great tit - 1

Gærdesanger - Lesser whitethroat - 2

Total:   14

 Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou, Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen, Heidi Vibe Frederiksen, Niels Dentrup og Cathrine Finger.

Da vejrudsigten forudså gode betingelser for ringmærkning, besluttede vi at gennemføre den 10. CES-runde denne morgen. Endnu en gang var det ungfugle som dominerede fangsten og igen blev tornsanger den absolutte topscorer med 10 ringmærkede fugle, som alle var klækket denne sommer. Undervejs havde vi en guidet tur for fem børn og deres mødre, som til deres store fornøjelse fik set de fleste af morgenens ringmærkede arter. 

Resten af dagen gik med dataindtastning og for mit vedkommende med en eftermiddagstur til Grenen. Fuglemæssigt skete der ikke meget ud over en storkjove og de to brilleand hanner, som atter var på plads. Det bedste blev derimod en strandtudse, som jeg næsten trådte på da jeg var på vej hjem. Det er sjældent at jeg har set disse nataktive dyr i dagslys, og jeg brugte derfor lejligheden til at tage lidt fotos under naturlig belysning.

Kamouflagen fejler intet hos den lille strandtudse! Bemærk den karakteristiske gule stribe langs med rygraden.

Ringmærkning (Jennes Sø):

Skovpiber 1
Rødhals 2
Solsort 2
Rørsanger 3
Gærdesanger 2
Tornsanger 10
Havesanger 1
Gransanger 4
Løvsanger 3
Blåmejse 3

Total: 31

Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou, Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen, Heidi Vibe Frederiksen, Niels Dentrup og Cathrine Finger.

In the morning Christina set off to elle Krattet for observations which includes marsh harriers, goshawks, sandwich terns, great skuas. Ironically on her way back she was encountered by Kat who told her a roller was spotted by Rolf from the exact place she just left. They hurried back to try and see it however the bird was not spotted again. Kat, however, managed to see the surf scooter which was great.

After that it was time for Heidi, Chris and Simon to go to the beach clean on the north beach. There was a total of six participants. While they were there they managed to drop by the cormorant colony where they saw swans and young black headed gulls.

In the meanwhile Anders and I were on the hills of grenen trying to spot the roller, again without success :(

Back in the station Anders checked all the our rings to make sure we had all the required ones for Autumn. I made my way to the lab and gave a couple of mini tours around the station. There was an awesome family forum Brazil who were incredibly knowledgeable and keen to learn even more about the natural world. And for the first time I saw anyone pass the guessing game!! Hi Rodrigo, it was a pleasure to meet you and thank you for coming!!

Later in the dray Christina, Simon and I went grocery shopping while Heidi and Anders went to our constant effort site to prepare the nets for tomorrow's ringing session.

We called it an early night in order to be fresh in the morning

Folk: Simon S Christiansen, Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou, Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen, Karen Klein, Peter Jensen, Mathilda Jensen, Oscar Jensen, Katherine Snell, Knud Pedersen, Heidi Vibe Frederiksen, Niels Dentrup.

A 04:00 alarm marked the beginning of what would turn out to be a long and rewarding day. This was our second session in a row, and we were looking forward to a plentiful catch with Kat who happily joined Anders in answering our endless supply or questions about moult, thanks Kat!! The first round was off to a great start with a young redstart (Rødstjert) and a few whitethroats (Tornsanger). Weirdly enough the following rounds were rather quiet with around 2/3 birds each. After a while we felt the wind change and the air became heavy. A dark cloud was approaching from the south. Since we check the weather forecast more or less hourly it came as a real surprise, fingers were crossed it wasn’t a rainstorm. To our pleasant surprise it was a mist with no rain at all, it passed as quickly as it appeared however, much to our surprise, it caused an uproar in bird activity in the area. Among the many whitethroats we also caught a young pied flycatcher (Broget fluesnapper) and an adult blackbird (Solsort) which officially marked the beginning of autumn!

As soon as we returned back to the station, after a quick lunch, Christina and I joined Kat as she set off to do some tests on the radio telemetry receiver. She also made sure to give us a quick tutorial on field repairs on the receiver so that we could carry out minor adjustments with her remote support. For us it was really exciting to find out how this amazing piece of kit works.

After that Flemming asked me to give the café a hand which and I was really happy to help. Everyone there works so hard, their days are easily longer that 12 hours! For me it was fun to see how the café runs and it also made me feel like home since I have been working in a similar café part-time for over a year and a half and I honestly missed it.

In the afternoon Christina and I made some preparations for the weekly toad tour at 23:00, which I followed up with my daily swim in Kattegat. That water had been a great temperature the previous couple of days however I feel the need to say today was noticeably colder. It took some getting used to however after a few minutes it felt amazing. Cold water has such a cleansing power on the mind and body, simply solves so many problems.

Ringing (Fyrhaven):

Tornsanger – 12

Rødstjert – 1

Sollsort – 1

Gulbug – 1

Gærdesanger – 6

Tornsanger – 12

Munk – 6

Gransanger – 3

Broget Fluesnapper – 1

Lille Gråsisken – 1

 Total: 44

Folk: Simon S Christiansen, Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou, Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen, Karen Klein, Peter Jensen, Mathilda Jensen, Oscar Jensen, Katherine Snell, Knud Pedersen, Heidi Vibe Frederiksen.

Den vindstille morgen gav gode betingelser for ringmærkning på Grenen. Det endte da også med at blive en ganske fin morgen, hvor især de unge tornsangere fra områdets store ynglebestand udgjorde en stor del af det samlede antal mærkninger. Vi kan nok regne med at fange en del unge tornsangere de næste par uger. En 1k skovpiber blev desuden efterårets første i fangsten. Karen, Peter, Mathilda og Oscar lagde også et smut forbi ringmærkningsområdet, hvor de fik set en del forskellige arter i hånden og fik stillet deres nysgerrighed på ringmærkning.

Da nettene var lukkede og vi havde spist frokost smuttede vi (Martin, Christina, Heidi og jeg) ud på Storsig for at hjælpe Kat med at sætte en radiosignalsmodtager op i en høj mast. Forhåbentlig vil modtageren i løbet af efteråret opfange signaler fra radiomærkede fugle fra Sydnorge. Det skal blive spændende at høre resultatet når efteråret er omme!

I løbet af de par timer vi var på Storsig kunne vi nyde 10-15 musvåger og fire røde glenter, som gentagne gange gjorde trækforsøg over Reservatet. To unge gøge og en ung duehøg hang ligeledes ud i området.

Dagen kulminerede med et hyggeligt grillarrangement hvor vi blev hele 13 gode folk. Foruden fuglestationspersonalet og familien fra lejligheden, lagde også Hebe (frivillig fra foråret) og hendes kusine samt lokale Knud Pedersen vejen forbi.

Fotograf: Knud Pedersen

Ringmærkning på Grenen:
Skovpiber 1
Rørsanger 2
Gærdesanger 1
Tornsanger 12
Munk 1
Gransanger 3
Løvsanger 2
Blåmejse 1
Lille gråsisken 1
Rørspurv 1

Total: 25

Folk: Simon S Christiansen, Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou, Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen, Karen Klein, Peter Jensen, Mathilda Jensen, Oscar Jensen, Katherine Snell, Knud Pedersen, Heidi Vibe Frederiksen, Hebe Denny + kusine.